Lunchtime meditation might reduce workers’ stress – but it does nothing to tackle the rat-race culture that causes it

Mindfulness meditation is being offered at some of the world’s biggest companies, such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline and KPMG, to cut workplace stress and boost productivity. With workplace stress costing UK businesses £6.5bn a year, it’s no surprise that companies are investing in mindfulness: business magazines and HR journals are open about how it can boost profits. And research has shown how mindfulness reduces sunk-cost bias, where business leaders obsess about lost causes at the expense of more pressing concerns and decisions.

Yet mindfulness experts, aware that the technique could be used to turn us into placid worker drones, are taking rearguard action. Mark Williams, the founder of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, said that seeing more clearly what is happening in their lives could make employees more subversive and critical. In other words, businesses may be cultivating an army of mindful rebels. But he said that three years ago – so where’s the revolution?

Forget turmeric lattes and Fitbits – this year is all about brain supplements, tiger nut milk and tracking your own mindfulness

“Like Netflix, but for spin classes” might seem an obvious pitch, but it’s taken a while for the perfect storm of rapidly improving tech and outrageously priced real-life classes to kick in, making at-home training an increasingly preferable prospect. Why, after all, should you drop a purple note to be yelled at for 45 minutes in a darkened room, when for half that a month you can subscribe to Peloton’s on-demand service and be yelled at 24/7 in the comfort of your living room – and without having to queue for the showers afterwards?